I would stop you at less technical there.. Stock android is a blank canvas that you create your own experience with. I would argue it is directed at both crowds, those that want simplicity and those that want to create their own experience, versus the debloating approach most technical people take when buying a samsung phone (especially people in the USA that have to deal with carrier bloat)
only tmobile samsung phones have unlockable bootloaders in the usa too. nexus has them across the board, another sign of catering to the technical crowd
Absolutely. My wife tried a Samsung galaxy a few years back and couldn't handle all the bolted on features. It was just overwhelming to her. She called it a nerd phone and went back to Apple iOS.
Fast forward two more years and I convinced her to try again with the 5x. She loves it and has no intentions of moving back to Apple. I absolutely would agree it is due to the simplicity of stock android and the Google Now launcher.
I think the thought that the Nexus line is truly only for the dev-type users is going away. Google is trying hard to bring it to the masses. And they are succeeding.